Irish Traditions in Pregnancy

A glimpse of some of the customs and beliefs that the Irish have held regarding childbirth and motherhood.

PREGNANCY

For the Irish, protecting the mother and the unborn child from “evil” or “malevolent” forces was most important and there are several beliefs that help to keep the mother and baby safe. Some are tied to religious beliefs, others are cultural.

Pregnant women should not enter graveyards. If they did, their child would starve and be weak. Also, if the woman twisted her foot on a grave, her baby would be born with a clubfoot.

A pregnant woman should wear a medal of their patron saint to protect them from evil. For many, St. Brigid or St. Elizabeth medals were worn during pregnancy and childbirth for protection. Another “all purpose” Catholic method for strong protection against evil was, of course, holy water blessed by a priest.

A pregnant woman had to avoid meeting a hare (rabbit), or her child would be born with a hare-lip. But rabbits were not the only animals to avoid. It was believed that cats could steal your baby’s soul, so being pregnant or having a newborn in the house with a cat was avoided.

Being a “godmother” was usually a very important role for the Irish — but if you were pregnant, you could not be a godparent. It was believed that either the child you were carrying or the child being baptized would die.

Pregnant women were to avoid contact with newborn babies. Newborn babies were considered to be new arrivals from the “spirit world” and could cause a miscarriage of her unborn baby.

An expectant mother could determine a baby’s sex by tying her wedding ring to a string and holding it above her stomach. If the ring moves in a circle it’s a boy, if it moves back and forth, it’s a girl. Variations of this method for determining sex is common in many different cultures.

If you have other children, it is believed that the direction of the hair swirl at the top of your child’s head will determine whether their next sibling will be a boy or a girl. If the swirl went to the right (clockwise), it would be a boy. If the swirl went to the left (counterclockwise) it would be a girl.

If you ate honey while you were pregnant you would have a baby with a sweet disposition. If you ate food that was spicy, you would have trouble on your hands. Eating lots and lots of carrots would help prevent your child from having to ever wear glasses, and eating a lot of corned beef and cabbage couldn’t hurt. But remember — stay away from GREEN potatoes. Traditionally, there was the belief that the ingestion of green potatoes would cause birth defects.

Washing windows or raising both hands/arms above your head was avoided during pregnancy. If the pregnant woman did this, it was believed that the umbilical cord would wrap around the baby’s neck.

The father should spend time talking to or singing to the baby while the mother was pregnant to form an attachment to the baby and ensure that the baby knew it was welcome and happy